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Motion capture technology used in blockbuster movies was used to create the first scientifically accurate, 3D working avatar of a Neanderthal.

The work will feature in a major new two-part BBC series, Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors, featuring actor Andy Serkis – co-founder of digital performance-capture studio The Imaginarium – who used the technology for his performances as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Planet of the Apes.

With the help of cutting-edge CGI technology, the show’s producers were able to reconstruct a Neanderthal hunt and model their voices.

To see how well Neanderthals would blend in to modern society, they also put Ned among commuters on a train.

Saltire / Edinburgh

BBC2 will air Neanderthals: Meet your Ancestors next week

Dr Rynn, left, who works at the university’s Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, said:

“I was working from a plastic cast of Ned’s skull, which tells a story in itself. Ned was in his 30s when he died, but the skull shows he received a severe head injury when he was in his teens.

“The severity and location of the injury means he would likely have been blind and deaf on the left side, while the withered nature of the right side of his skeleton means he would have been quite severely disabled.

“Despite this, he lived for another 20 years after his injury and was found with other members of his family.

Dragon skull found in London

Fri, July 19, 2013

A giant 40ft dragon skull was transported across London by movie and TV streaming service blinkbox for the ultimate Game of Thrones fan screening at the Tower of London.